1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to an improved beach towel and tote bag combination for use when lounging at a beach or other recreational area. The towel incorporates novel features that allow for simple and rapid conversion to a tote bag configuration, and includes externally accessible pockets that serve a primary purpose of carrying loose articles, a secondary purpose of providing a headrest for the user, and the combination serves a tertiary purpose of providing a shoulder or back cover to protect the user from undesired weather conditions. The storage pockets incorporate a novel feature to facilitate removal of sand or dirt particles collected during use.
2. Description of Related Art
Excursions to the beach or other recreation areas generally involve long walks to the ultimate destination because available parking lots, train and bus stations are usually located at a considerable distance. To enjoy those excursions, people usually carry a beach towel, blanket, or mat as well as other containers or tote bags for transporting various personal items, such as food, drinks, clothing, reading materials, sunglasses, suntan lotion, etc. Carrying all the separate equipment and provisions results in substantial discomfort and inconvenience and may necessitate several trips before everything is in place. It is accordingly highly advantageous to combine items so as to reduce the total number to be carried. To that end, various attempts have been made in the past to provide combination tote bags and towels with storage pockets and carrying straps. By so doing, the total number of separate items that must be carried is significantly reduced.
Information relevant to attempts to address this problem can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,197,891 to Comollo, 4,856,912 to Damus et al, 5,110,219 to Lopes, 5,346,308 to Buhot et al, 5,390,381 to LaMantia, 5,533,653 to Kaufman, 5,629,071 to Feldman, 5,618,110 to Sullivan, 5,688,052 to Compton. However, these references suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages:
a) no separate provisions for carrying small items, such as valuables; PA1 b) the towel, when converted to a tote bag, is large and cumbersome and difficult to carry; PA1 c) long zippers, subject to jamming as a result of being contaminated with sand and dirt, are employed as the means for securing the towel in the folded, tote bag, configuration; PA1 d) multi-step, complex, and confusing folding schemes are employed, and are either ignored or most likely employed only if special instructions are provided and followed; PA1 e) the folding schemes are such that sand and dirt particles will end up inside the tote bag and thus are carried home by the user who must then take special steps to dispose of them; and PA1 f) no provisions are incorporated to facilitate use of the towel as a shoulder or back cover to protect the user from undesired weather conditions.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a towel and tote bag combination designed for simple and rapid conversion that can be readily accomplished by anyone, including most children. There is also a need for the tote bag to have convenient externally accessible pockets, which incorporate a novel means for removal of sand or dirt particles collected during use at a beach or other recreational area. Finally, there is a need for a beach towel that can also be utilized as a means of protecting the user from undesired weather conditions, such as excessive sun, wind, or cold.